IT WAS International Poetry Day on Sunday: so what better time to do a round-up of books by, or featuring, local poets?

New Earswick bard Roy Stevens' first volume of self-published poetry, Contrasts, turned a searching eye on everything from politics, religion and war to animal welfare, and earned its author the accolade 'a genuine poet' from the Evening Press.

He has followed that up with a second, and much shorter, volume: Politicians And Turkeys (self published, 50p). As the title implies, he's lost none of his radical edge, taking a swipe at everything from politicians who compromise their principles to greedy corporate lawyers.

There is also a strong environmental theme running through this 20-page volume - proceeds from its sale go to animal welfare - and a heartfelt poem, Ending It, prompted by Astronomer Royal Martin Rees' conclusion that the human race has only a 50 per cent chance of surviving the 21st century. "If it's curtains for twenty-fifty/ We might as well start being nifty/ And love as never before.

"We should give the world a big hug/ And say sorry for being a mug/ Homo sapiens, the world's biggest bore." Thought provoking.

York poet Derek N Thorp has had a colourful and varied career.

After serving with the RAF in Malaya, Japan and Korea in the 1950s, he went on to be variously an engineer, painter and decorator, farm hand, bus driver, inn keeper, church verger, house parent, cinema manager, cabinet maker and woodcarver, office equipment salesman and, latterly, warden (along with his wife Elizabeth) of a sheltered housing complex in York.

The 12 poems of his featured in Today's Tomorrows Yesterday (ed Sarah Marshall, Spotlight Poets, £6.95) reflect this varied career, ranging from ruminations on the passing of the last lighthouse men to thoughts on Armistice Day and reflections on the seasons.

There is also, in Valentine's Day 2000, a wonderfully wise meditation on the nature of love - not foolish, vacuous young love, but love nurtured and sustained through a lifetime together. "If I should take my pen to write a line/ of foolish verse - an old clich -/ a reminder of St Valentine to say/ I love you, in a vacuous and self-conscious way.../ I would. But could that serve/ to cover all that you deserve/ in love and gratitude for all the years/ you gave unstinting love?"

Sessions of York, meanwhile, has just brought out a slim volume of poetry by Gordon Ross. Rhymes For Our Times touches on the forgotten lives of elderly people, memories of village schooldays, human nature and the impact of September 11. One of my favourites, however, is the short, pithy and affectionate Goody Goody. "'Mum, I'll be good for fifty P/ Or chocolate, if you'd rather.'/ 'You'll be good for nothing/ And be just like your father.'"

Politicians And Turkeys is available from central and local libraries and New Earswick Post Office, priced 50p. Today's Tomorrows Yesterday is available from Spotlight Poets in Peterborough (call 01733 898102) for £6.95 plus £1.75 towards postage. Rhymes for Our Times is available from Sessions of York (tel 01904 659224) price £3.50 plus £1p&p.

Updated: 08:51 Wednesday, March 24, 2004